Paul Allen says he is not selling the Blazers

In a rare and wide-ranging discussion with reporters on Monday night, the billionaire owner shot down recent talk that he wants to put the Blazers on the market in the near future.

“I have no plans to sell the team,” he declared.

Allen would not, however, say how long he expects to keep the Blazers. He says numerous factors would play into that decision, including his health. The co-founder of Microsoft was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy in 2009, but was declared cancer-free late last year.

Allen was optimistic that the NBA’s new labor agreement would help smaller-market teams like his that have been losing money. He corrected one reporter about his losses saying they were in the “hundreds of millions, let’s be clear.”